Messages - Citylaw

I don't think they should I think there is something to be said for the relationships that are built during law school, and learning how to show up on time, which in all honestly a huge part of actually working as a lawyer.

I also think it will cause professors to lose motivation to simply talk to a screen, and not see students in person. I don't it needs to change, but that is just my opinion as a random guy on the internet.

I haven't posted on this board for awhile, but my story is not that uncommon. I had a pretty good undergrad GPA then worked as a paralegal for about two years, and was surrounded by lawyers that didn't seem any more capable than I was so I took the LSAT and did well enough to get into law school.

Loki is right on point, law schools care about GPA/LSAT major doesn't matter just the number. In all honesty your better off with a 4.0 in underwater basket weaving than a 3.1 in molecular biology.

For the time being enjoy undergrad and do as well as you can to keep the door open, don't worry about law school for now. Many people think about going and a good GPA will keep the door open for you, then it will primarily come down to the LSAT.

Maybe, but I would not focus to much on rankings honestly. I think one of the biggest issues out there for incoming law students is looking at rankings and reading all these books etc written by Harvard Grads etc.

It is similar to a decent high school player getting advise from Lebron James or Shaquille O'Neal on how to get a scholarship. Lebron James and Shaq are freaks of nature that had people begging them to go, and if you have a 178 LSAT and 3.9 from Yale yea you are going to have a different legal career than someone with a 3.2 from Whatever State and 157 LSAT.

To further make the analogy let's presuem there is 6'7 pretty good high school player, he gets a scholarship to a small division 1 school, plays professionally in Europe for a few years then gets a head college coaching job. That is pretty good, but there is no debate that Lebron or Shaq are infinetly more successful than the 6'7 guy that never made the NBA, let alone the NBA hall of fame, but most people would be pretty happy with that outcome.

No lets relate it to law school, the guy with a 3.2 and 157 LSAT gets into University of San Francisco Law School, finishes in the top third of his class, passes the bar and gets a job making $80,000 out of law school and eventually works in small firms the rest of his life, maybe ends up retiring working for a City Attorney's Office. That is not terrible result, but the guy that graduates Valedictorian from Harvard, gets a Federal Clerkship, works in Biglaw, then it appointed to the Federal Bench, had a better career than person 1.

However, not everyone is Lebron James, Shaq, or capable of getting a 179 LSAT, but everyone listens to those people even though their advice to the average guy is terrible.

If you are looking at UMass and other schools of that caliber congrats, getting into any ABA school is a big accomplishment, but you are not at Harvard, Yale, etc. Therefore, don't consider the rankings, which nobody cares about outside of the "Top" schools i.e. Harvard, Yale, etc.

Nobody cares about the difference between UMass and NorthEastern for example. It is highly unlikely a employer will say oh I see NorthEastern is ranked 98th and UMass is ranked 108th, we simply must pick the student from the higher ranked school. Nobody ever cares about the difference between the 98th and 108th best anything.

Therefore, when it comes to selecting a school use common sense and figure out where you want to live, how much money it is going to cost, and how you feel about the school. If all else fails then use the rankings as a tie breaker, but remember U.S. News is a for profit unregulated magazine offering an opinion. If you want to make life altering decisions based on what U.S. News says then you should move to Albuquerque, New Mexico, because U.S. News ranked it the #1 place to live. http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/slideshows/best-places-to-live . I imagine you are not going to move to New Mexico, because U.S. News ranked it #1.

Therefore, do not make a life altering $100,000 + decision based on a magazine either.

If your sole goal really is to go into JAG then accumulate as little debt as possible. However, I think very few people stick with the original law school plan, so be wary of that.

Then assuming everything else is the same any law student should consider location, cost, personal feelings about the school and last at least U.S. News Rankings.

Obviously New York and North Carolina are two very different places, additionally NYU and Duke are two very different schools. If your in to college basketball and living in a College town for three years Duke will be awesome!

If your into going to Broadway plays, shows, Central Park, etc NYU will be awesome.

I personally would like the Duke experience, but I love basketball you may hate it. Therefore, always remember that choosing a law school is a highly personal choice, and random people on the internet should not be the basis of a life altering decision.

Your clearly very intelligent to have been admitted into both schools so do not overthink it to much.

If I was you, which I am not I would choose the cheaper cost of living, scholarship, and less stressful environment of North Carolina, particularly if you really are planning on going into JAG, because they will assign you a location so your connections in law school will not matter that much.

I am anonymous internet poster so take my advice along with a grain of salt.

With that said don't leave common sense at the door and the cheapest option, which should be CUNY. Any ABA school will teach you the same thing. CUNY, NYLS, and Cardozo are fine schools, but don't thousands more for any of those three if you were talking Columbia v CUNY the money is worth it, but NYLS is not Columbia.

They are both in Pittsburgh and from my understanding equally good schools.

I guess one thing to really look at are the stipulations of the scholarship. If it is something like you must maintaina 3.0, be a little careful. Most incoming law students think they will get a 3.0 no problem, but when you go to law school everyone will be very smart, hardworking and motivated. This is relevant, because typically the law school curve only allows about 1/3 of the class to get a 3.0, which means if there is a 3.0 requirement there is a 66.6% chance you will not keep your scholarship for year two and three. This is nothing personal, but just the reality on the first day of class 100% of law students are sure they will be in the top 10% and there is no way they will not in at least the top third, but you do not have to be a math major to see how that plays out.

So one thing to do is review the stipulations of the scholarship.

Also, the culture of the school is important if you really liked Duquesne undergrad and did well there, why move? If you are eager to go to a bigger school then UPitt offers that. The actual legal education will be the same you will take Torts, Criminla Law, Civil Procedure etc at either school and typically when ABA schools are in the same city the same professor teaches at both schools. So I assume at either school you will have the same professor and read from the same textbook.

In summary there is no "right" choice, both schools will provide you with an opportunity to succeed. However, at the end of the day you will have to choose one and you will always wander what would happen if you choose differently, and you will simply never know, but it will likely end up fine.

Good for it, I know a lot of really smart and good attorneys from La Verne.

I also think its placement in the Inland Empire, gives it a pretty big advantage, because very few people want to move there. However, if you went to school in the area employment options are probably not bad.

Just like Cal-Northern a CBA accreddited school does well in Chico and San Joaquian Valley College of Law does great in San Joaquin Valley.

If La Verne was in Downtown L.A and competing with UCLA, USC, LMU, Southwestern, Pepperdine etc then it would be tough, but even Western State and Chapman do fine in Orange County and La Verne has its little niche as well.

Loki provides great advice and as I am sure he will agree nobody cares about what U.S. News Rankings thinks as it relates to the difference between Kansas and Washington. Remember that U.S. News is an unregulated for profit magazine offering it's subjective opinion. U.S. News is not doing anything wrong, by offering an opinion, but it doesn't mean you have to take it seriously.

There are polls and opinions that support Trump to be a good President, but that doesn't make it true for me. Furthermore, as evidenced by the attached link the rankings change drastically year by year. http://www.top-law-schools.com/rankings.html. In 2009 Kansas was in a multiple way tie for 65th. So if anyone enrolled in 2009 based on its' 2009 ranking, they would have been pretty disappointed when they graduated in 2012 and Kansas in a multiple way tie for 89th.

The same student that thought he was enrolling in the 69th best school in 2009, graduated from the 89th best school in 2012. However, do you think anyone cares about the difference between 65th and 89th? Not really.

It is just to say that someone who attends Harvard can be disciplined the same as someone that attends a non-aba school. From my interaction with law students stuck in the bubble they think that if you attend a "top tier" school problems don't happen, but in the real world sh*t happens.

The real point is to simply use common sense etc, because I know many law students get wrapped up in the rankings and fail to do so. That is all.